March 24th, 2013

Well, I am going to be embarking on an unexpected, but awesome project.

I am going to transform my Scorpio from this,



To this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



No, not the leather interior, I am already working on that, but it will be a 5-SPEED!!!!!!!

After 24 years the A4LD is giving up the ghost, I have tried to baby it, but it is now time for a rebuild. After investigating various options, from buying a re-manufactured one from an online vendor, I particularly liked this one: http://www.transmissioncenter.org/a4ld.htm or having a local shop do a rebuild for me (I am sure there is a good shop in town, but the couple of businesses I talked to were so rude, and assumed I knew nothing).

Enter Mr. Jeff Herson. I contacted him about getting a rebuilt A4LD. He was more than happy to get an estimate put together. I believe he works with a local shop or person and they rebuild them from available core's that Jeff has.

During our conversation Jeff throws out that he has a T-9, complete with all the trimmings, drive shaft, pedal box, etc. The only thing missing is the clutch cable. I made a call to BAT and they have one in stock, so I am going to go for it! Jeff is heading this way in a couple weeks, and I am in no hurry, so this is going to be awesome! For about the same money as rebuilding the auto, I will have the fun of a 5-speed.

A huge shout out goes to Jeff! I am very excited

March 23rd, 2013

Some progress, some set backs. I am trying to diagnose a slow start issue. It appears to be fuel related. Fuel pressure is slow to build at the fuel rail. I am going to take the fuel rail and injectors out this weekend and see what I can see. On a positive note I got a new exhaust system for the Scorpio today



I hope I can get it installed this weekend. It will be nice not to have all of the exhaust sounds

November 5th, 2012

Been busy working on the Scorpio, but nothing fun. Just maintenance and troubleshooting annoying issues.

- Fixed the rear window defrost grid ( I thought) had several small breaks from the previous owner and his window tint fetish. I got a kit from www.frostfighter.com. I now have continuity through the grid, but still no heat. I can measure 12 volts on the two tabs, so I am a little confused as to why I am not getting any heat.

- Trying to diagnose a slow starting car. This started about a month ago. It cranks, but doesn't catch for a good 5-7 seconds. I think I narrowed it down to a failing TPS. I don't have a new one on hand, but the original one measured a lower resistance than the one I had off of the parts car. After replacing it, the car did want to start quicker. I may still need a new one, but it appears the original TPS was telling the ECU that the throttle was cracked open a little, and maybe this was causing it to call for more fuel into the engine at start up

- Still trying to diagnose a stumble in the engine when the car is cold. I have had this problem for a long time. I have replaced spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Now yesterday with the swapped TPS it seemed a little better. This morning will be a definitive test.

- Installed the CV Half Shaft Bolt retaining clips that keep them from working loose. Somehow when I installed a new CV Half Shaft a year ago last summer I didn't re-use the ones I had. Of course I threw them away. Thanks to Jeff Herson at www.merkurmidwest.com I got a new set of them and got it fixed.

Again, nothing fun, just some maintenance. Even though the summer is over, I am still hopeful I can get the a/c system working in time for some efficient defrost for the winter.

October 21st, 2012

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. I finally found some time and stripped out most of the parts off of the Blue Scorpio. I am hopeful I can get it out of the garage and off to the scrap yard by next weekend.

Had a some major maintenance: replaced the fuel pump. A big thanks to Jeff Herson for a "new" used pump for the job. Definitely a learning experience. Sorry, no pictures of interest.

Minor maintenance: had the air distribution motor on the climate control system crap out. Not sure what happened, but it is dead. I will look into it later, but luckily I was able to replace it with the one out of the parts car.

Replaced the EGR posiiton sensor. It decided it was time to fail also. Car ran "okay" just seemed a little off. My "early" 88 doesn't have a check engine light, so I didn't know anything was really wrong till I pulled codes. I got a (34) right away. Replaced the sensor, and it went away.

That is about it for now.

September 27th, 2012

     Here is a little update. I am waiting for my a/c expert (father in law) to be available. He has the equipment, so I have been working on other projects. I decided to fix the HORRIBLE battery tray eyesore in the car.

Here is the before picture:



SEVERAL hours into the project:



I used a spot weld cutter bit I got from Harbor freight. It did okay, but man I drilled a lot of holes in that metal!

All cleaned up with a lot of holes going into the vehicle cabin. I wasn't aware of this until it was pointed out to me



Some magic filler stuff:



Clean up except for adding the plastic metal stuff



All cleaned up:



New Tray:



Battery and the original hold down hardware installed. I did clean up the hardware a little:



I am still planning on re-designing how that mess connects at the battery, but this will have to do for now.

Other things I have done, but haven't had time to post about: Fixed a little bit of rust on the passenger side wheel well, also am mostly done stripping the blue Scorpio down in my garage. Looks like a car puked in my garage. Parts everewhere!

One last obstacle to me getting some more work done:

Yes, we bought another money pit, er, I mean boat, er, family entertainment device:

August 26, 2012

I wasn't really looking yet, but I couldn't resist a great deal on this amplifier. I got it on Ebay. It is a Blaupunkt 5-channel amp. It was actually built by Zapco, which as I understand was a good thing. It is kind of big, weighs 15lbs, looks awesome. It should fit in very nicely with my all Blaupunkt system!





I had some time on Friday, so I got the a/c compressor out of the car. It is gross right now, but that is what 23 years and a leaky oil pressure sensor will do to you I have the hose connection point bagged and zip tied for now till I can get it cleaned up and then it will be time to r&r the shaft seal.



Here are the goodies that I have for the a/c repair. New filter/dryer, new expansion valve, and the compressor kit to replace the seal along with the compressor case o-rings.



If my father in-law isn't available in the next couple of weeks, I may end up buying my own set of gauges and a vacuum pump. He is very busy, but he does have the equipment. Not to mention a lot more experience with a/c than I do. Anyway, still hopeful to have a working a/c by September

July 26, 2012 - A/C stuff

Awhile back I sent my A/C hoses off to get rebuilt.  Now I have brand new barrier hoses.